Triloke Kaul

There is an interesting story about the name of the artist, since there were many Triloki’s in his college, the teacher decided to change his spelling to Trilok with an e, and hence we have Triloke! Just as his name Triloke did things differently, he was a a postgraduate in Mathematics from Lucknow University and was offered a job in a bank, which he refused as he did not want to be bound to a chair and wanted explore, so instead he travelled to Kolkata with his friend. While there, he worked for a Kashmiri craft trader and soaked in the artistic environment of Kolkata, be it theatre, music or visual arts, it was also here that he was drawn to the philosophies of Marxism as well as the simplicity expounded by Gandhi. After a few years he returned to Kashmir and joined the National Conference.

Kashmir also had its National Cultural Front, which was founded on the idea of democracy, and was teeming with young poets, writers and musician and artists, P N Kachru an artist was part of this group. From within this group, in 1948, another faction developed, which was focused soly on art. It was more informal and Triloke was one of the leads, alongside S N Butt and P N Kachru. The group came to be nicknamed ‘The Trio’. Without any dedicated spaces, or studio – the Trio discussed art and philosophy, as they ambled through the picturesque valleys and mountains of Kashmir– these were called their ‘walking meetings’.

Though not a trained artist - it was unthinkable for a Kashmiri and a Pandit at that to take a profession that was art! - Triloke persisted with painting, especially landscapes in watercolour, which became his forte. S H Raza, one of the defining voices of the Progressives and moulding of Indian modernism, who would visit Kashmir on a regular basis, Percy Brown who made Kashmir his home after retiring as the principal of the Government School of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, also became part of the artistic coterie in the valley during this time. These encounters led to the renaming of the group to ‘Progressive Artist Association’, which drawing from the Mumbai Progressive Artist Group of which Raza was the founder member.

The group held their first exhibition in Srinagar in May 1949, and thereafter in October 1949 in New Delhi. The exhibition in Delhi was well received. In 1950, G R Santosh also from Kashmir, joined the group. However, as is the case with most artist collectives, the group did not last for long, but it set Triloke on a definitive path of art. It was at the suggestion of Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, the prolific write and founder and editor of Marg Magazine (1946), Trilok took the bold step to enrol at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, Baroda in 1952, accompanied by G R Santosh. Incidentally, N S Bendre was one of his teachers. The time spent in Baroda evolved his style of work, which drew inspiration from Modernism, especially cubism with its penchant for angular lines and bold compositions.

While in Baroda Triloke along with Shanti Dave, and GR Santosh, decided to exhibit their works in an exhibition, Bendre suggested that he along with some senior artists such as K G Subramanyan and Balkrishna Patel would also join them. Bendre felt it was an opportune moment to present the ideology of the Faculty of Fine Arts and founded the Baroda School in 1956 and planned its first exhibition in Mumbai. The Baroda School marks a moment that forged a path that did not blindly ape the academic style of the west, nor did it believe in revivalist tendencies, it urged the artist to observe life around them and push the viewer to think.

Triloke Kaul chose to return to Kashmir and forge a path for himself and other artists of his home state, a difficult choice in retrospect, especially when he lost his life’s works and his library at the onset of armed militancy, he became a recluse, though he continued to paint.